Amateur Detective

November 1911. Lady Emily Hardcastle is celebrating her birthday by seeing a play at the Duke’s Theatre in Bristol with her maid and confidante, the inimitable Flo. Act One is a triumph. Then Act Two opens with a body on stage—a real one. One of the cast has been brutally murdered during the interval. When other matters get in the way of Inspector Sunderland overseeing the case himself, he asks the ever-resourceful Lady H to keep a watchful eye on the suspects—and his police colleagues.

It was the murder that shocked the nation. Thirty years ago, Kate Rokesmith went walking by the river with her young son. She never came home. For three decades her case file has lain, unsolved, in the corner of an attic - until Stella Darnell, daughter of Detective Chief Superintendent Darnell, starts to clear out her father's house after his death.

Matchmaking can be murder... Danika Dreary’s life is a certified dumpster fire. After her latest soul-crushing crisis, Danika moves in with her delightfully quirky grandma, Elsie, who believes crystals are a girl's best friend. But there’s a catch: Danika must work at Karma Moon in the quaint, coastal town of Mystique, California. Except this is no ordinary new-age shop—it’s also where Elsie plays matchmaker to the town’s hopeless romantics. When Ryker Van Allan demands a refund after his best friend gets stood up—apparently, true love comes with a money-back guarantee—Elsie ...

In The Accountant’s Cookbook for Murder, buttoned-up accountant Martin Wells never expected murder at the Redwood County Cook-Off. When a food critic dies mid-bite, Martin must follow the breadcrumbs—through sabotage, suspects, and savory secrets—to solve the case. It’s a cozy mystery where spreadsheets meet sabotage, and the recipe for murder gets personal.

It’s love at first sight when Penelope Kite sees Le Chant d’Eau - The Song of Water - the stone farmhouse tucked high in the hills above the Luberon valley. For years, Penelope put her unfaithful ex-husband and her ungrateful stepchildren first. Now, she’s going to start living for herself. Though her dream house needs major renovations, Penelope impulsively buys the property and moves to St. Merlot. But Penelope’s daydreams of an adventurous life in Provence didn’t include finding a corpse floating face down in her swimming pool.

Ellie Christie is thrilled to begin a new chapter, having recently returned to her tiny Colorado hometown to run her family’s historic bookshop with her elder sister, Meg, and their friendly bookshop cat, Agatha. Perched in a Swiss-style hamlet accessible primarily by ski gondola, the Book Chalet is a famed bibliophile destination known for its maze of shelves and relaxing reading lounge with cozy fireside seats and panoramic views. At least, until trouble blows in with a wintery whiteout, and a man is found dead on the gondola.

When a star race car driver is struck down in his prime in a freak accident that doesn't quite add up, publicist Amelia Bancroft finds herself drawn back to the community she swore she'd never return to. Will their fates collide in this shocking novel of suspense as Amelia searches for the truth? When Amelia Bancroft decides to sell her successful Chicago-based PR agency, her only plans for the future include luxury travel, rest and relaxation. But when her long-time, star client, Tate Martin, dies in a horrific racing accident, she finds herself somewhere she’d vowed she’d never return...

It is an ordinary Thursday, and things should finally be returning to normal. Except trouble is never far away where the Thursday Murder Club are concerned. A local news legend is on the hunt for a sensational headline, and soon the gang are hot on the trail of two murders, ten years apart. To make matters worse, a new nemesis pays Elizabeth a visit, presenting her with a deadly mission: kill or be killed.

She should say no. She’s not a detective after all. But how can she? When Felicity Philips receives a panicked call from an old friend, there simply isn’t a way that she can turn him down. Edward, the jeweller to the crown, is in deep trouble and he cannot tell the police. His terrible truth must be kept secret. But what is his motivation for calling Felicity? Does he really believe she is the only one who can help? Or are his motivations more personal and dark than he is letting on? With her usual cast of supporting misfits, Felicity is going to see what she can do … … but when she...

Alfie McAlister has retreated from London to the peace and quiet of the country to recover from a personal tragedy. But an accidental death - which may have been no accident - reveals that the heart of England is far from the tranquil backwater he imagined. After arriving in Bunburry, he is co-opted as an amateur detective by Liz and Marge, two elderly ladies who were best friends with Alfie's late Aunt Augusta. And it is not long before their investigations take an even more dramatic turn.

In Willowbrook, some recipes kill. Some resurrect. And some—will change everything. Amelia Hawthorne thought she knew her grandmother's cafe, until the day a forbidden cookbook unveiled a darkness brewing beneath every perfectly frosted surface. One slice of cake. One moment of truth. An entire town's destiny hanging by a thread of midnight bloom and ancient secrets. The Syndicate has been watching. Waiting. Controlling minds through every carefully poisoned pastry, every calculated crumb that passes unsuspecting lips. They thought their recipe for manipulation was perfect. They were ...

January 1910. A journalist has been killed in a suspicious blaze. Everything points to a group of suffragettes, but the apparent culprit insists she is innocent. When Lady Hardcastle receives a letter from a suffragette requesting her urgent help, the retired spy turned sleuth knows only she stands between an accused young woman and the gallows. Evidence at the scene makes Lizzie Worrel’s innocence difficult to believe, and with the police treating it as an open-and-shut case of arson, Lady Hardcastle faces a barrage of resistance as she tries to dig out the truth.

In New Oslo, some family secrets stay buried... and some come back to haunt you. When Lena Larsen's home renovation uncovers a centuries-old burial chamber, complete with the grave of an accused witch, she knows it's going to be a wild ride. With her ghostly grandmother offering commentary from the sidelines and two modern-day mystics requesting permission to perform rituals in her basement, Lena has enough on her plate. But then her construction worker turns up dead, and suddenly the witch's grave is the least of her problems. As Lena investigates with help from her best friend Charlie and...

When Tiffany and Rosie evacuate their cottage to temporarily stay at the Sunset House boarding house, they think this might be a fun adventure... ... but instead, they witness a murder on their first morning. Soon, the duo find themselves investigating a dangerous and deadly situation. Meanwhile, the catnapper attempts to strike again, and Tiff and Rosie must form unexpected alliances to keep Mariposans safe. Praise for A.R. Winters: "The perfect balance of being lighthearted, but still a serious page-turning mystery." - Jaycie D, Amazon.com "A fun cozy mystery with engaging and ...

It's late 1936, and King Edward is in turmoil, having fallen in love with the scandalously divorced and even more scandalously American Wallis Simpson. He wants to marry her but knows that doing so will jeopardize his crown. Edward confides in his dear friend Darcy, Georgie's husband, and the couple agree to hide Wallis in their home while Edward figures out what to do. But unbeknownst to Georgie and Darcy, Sir Hubert, the owner of the estate, has given a film crew permission to shoot a motion picture about Henry the Eighth and Anne Boleyn on the grounds

Young Los Angeles public relations exec Suzie Fox is being blackmailed for sex by a bad cop, a senior officer of the LAPD no less. Suzie fights back the only way she knows how, and, in the process, unwittingly becomes a beacon, a shining light, for America's Me Too movement and for abused women everywhere. But will justice be served?

When the life she thought she knew is suddenly taken away, Ella Hunt is determined to make a new life for herself and her faithful companion, Boris the Bulldog. She finds a new purpose in the form of a small, failed hotel in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. With her expertise in designing and upgrading hotel properties, Ella is determined to restore the hotel back to its former glory. But when she finds out the former hotel owner was found murdered in the hotel cellar, Ella teams up with the lead detective on the case, Luke Falconer, to uncover the truth and clear the hotel's name. If you enjoyed ...

When Lily Mason and her human boyfriend, Parker Knowles, help a friend rescue two abused pitties, they're determined to find out who abandoned the dogs in a deserted house. But the decrepit home has other secrets, too, such as the dead body in the basement. For once, Lily hasn't stumbled upon a corpse, but Parker's buddy has - and he's arrested for murder. With the help of their friends, human and nonhuman alike, Lily and Parker are determined to find out what really happened. Even if it means putting their own lives in danger.

Sophie never considered ghostwriting as a side gig, until former actress and aspiring lifestyle guru, Tilly Stratford, trophy wife of Wesley Winthrope, needs someone to write her celebrity cookbook. Sophie agrees, hoping she'll earn enough bread on this assignment to finish her bathroom renovations. But as it turns out, Sophie isn't the first foodie to get a taste for recipe ghostwriting, and if the marginalia are any indication, this project could be a killer....

Dr. Theo Cray has a legendary mathematical knack for catching serial killers. Until his exposure to a mind-altering pathogen knocks him off his game. It has upended an investigation, destroyed his reputation, and left him to question his own sanity. One person still trusts him to finish the job. His former professor Amanda Paulson is helping point Cray down a logical path to his prey: a nomadic health-care worker whose murder spree stretches back decades and whose victims number in the hundreds.